Saturday Night in Downtown LA

The once-vacant windows of LA's historic core are alive again and filled with the buzz of creatures in search of some of the city's best food and drink. This is what a night in the new Downtown LA looks like.

The Downtown LA skyline at around 5 p.m. as viewed from an Uber car feverishly crossing the water-deficient LA River.

Last year, Terroni opened their second LA location in an old bank building on Spring Street. An opulent ode to Italy, this is where you go to start the night off right. Grab a seat at the bar and a Terroni Spritz—a combination of Aperol, Prosecco and a splash of amaro over ice.

Bestia just might be the hottest spot in town. Whether it's a frosty tumbler of Lambrusco or a pair of quirky orange wines, wine director Maxwell Leer makes sure each gets its own unique presentation.

The pizza at Bestia is a thing of charred-and-chewy beauty. Chef Ori Menashe created this seemingly simple pie of burrata, San Marzano tomatoes, Castelvetrano olives, oregano and fermented chilies.

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The Ace Hotel has finally made its way to Los Angeles and all the city's cool kids have been rejoicing ever since. Located in the United Artists tower and theater, built in the 1920s, the view is one of the best in the city. Dine downstairs at LA Chapter, or better yet, head straight up to the roof for magic-hour cocktails.

The cocktails at The Ace can be classic and labor-intensive or quick and flirty (e.g. boozy slushies for poolside drinking). Pictured here is LA Chapter (the restaurant off the lobby) head bartender Dan Sabo's Silver Line Fizz—a combination of Zu Bison Grass Vodka, pomegranate molasses, lemon, orange citrate, egg white and soda.

Some bourbon on the rocks and a pool cue is all you need at Tony's Saloon, Downtown's non-dive-y dive situated on the edge of the Arts District and a stone's throw from Bestia.

The electric neon sign on the wall when you enter Honeycut lets you know exactly what's in store. Half cocktail lounge, half disco, dancing is inevitable here. As is a cocktail—or three.

The bartenders next to the dance floor at Honeycut shake traditional drinks, but also offer up "disco shots" and several cocktails on draft.

A cocktail bar with a light up dance floor? Count everyone in.

You haven't truly experienced East Side LA nightlife until you've succumbed to a late night "Danger Dog." Only "dangerous" because of their perfectly positioned locations outside bars and clubs, it could be the best-worst decision you make all night.

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Eight years ago, I made the move from New York to Los Angeles. I surprised myself by settling in so brilliantly. I soaked up every drop of sunshine and admired every impressive palm tree-lined street. I hit up every slick new restaurant in West Hollywood and every dive in Koreatown. I also completely avoided Downtown. Why would I want to hang out in a seemingly empty and abandoned quasi-metropolis, one that could never compare to my former Manhattan home? I realize now this was an ignorant assumption. But, I stand before you in 2014 a changed woman. And so does Downtown Los Angeles. It is a changed neighborhood, or perhaps—more accurately—a changed city within a city. Downtown is a complicated creature.

In the time I’ve lived here, Downtown has slowly been made over. Its once vacant buildings and warehouses are now filled with hip 30-somethings, art galleries, swanky industrial lofts, destination coffee shops and breweries. Not too far from the sketchy streets of Skid Row is a place deemed the “Best New Restaurant in America,” sandwiched between an abandoned Latino strip club and a wholesale cosmetics shop. Before 2010, no restaurateur or bar owner wanted to touch Downtown with at least a three-mile pole, and now they can’t get there fast enough. Why? Downtown, a place discovering itself at warp speed, provides a chance to take risks. The locations are inspired and somewhat affordable, and patrons have proven to be open-minded, ready for something fresh and different.

The landscape of Downtown almost feels like an escape, after all—an escape from movie studios, the Sunset Strip, beach bungalows and suburban sprawl. With a sprinkling of skyscrapers, Beaux-Arts facades, Victorian courts and a mélange of almost every other architectural style in the book, it almost feel like you aren’t even in Los Angeles anymore. And yet, Downtown is the historic core of the city; its past is still very much present, and the new feels even more vibrant in its predecessor’s company.

So, what is a proper night out in Downtown LA like? It’s eclectic to say the least. It can mean catching the sunset and grabbing a cocktail on the roof of The Ace Hotel and wandering across the street to Alma. Or it could mean hitting Bestia for pizza, pasta and the wine stylings of Maxwell Leer, one of the city’s most talented sommeliers, and then finishing with a nightcap of whiskey and a game of pool at Tony’s Saloon. Or, if you’re brave, it’s dancing the night away on Honeycut‘s packed LED-lit disco floor and stumbling home with a hangover-helper pit stop at one of the many street vendors selling something known to Angelenos as the “Danger Dog.”

The Downtown players are a mishmash of business suits, East-Side hipsters, college kids and gaggles of bachelorettes. There truly is something for everyone. Take my one night adventure as but a glimpse of how varied and colorful a Saturday night in Downtown LA can be. It is the great unknown of neighborhoods, its future shape and scope yet to be determined. As such, anything goes.

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Whitney Adams

Whitney is a sommelier living in Los Angeles. When not popping bottles with ease, she plays Creative Director and Principal at Bottle Stock, an online wine accessories brand. She enjoys Italian amari, communal dining and drinking, and riding horses bareback through vineyards in France (when possible).